Economic Myths Explained

National Prosperity Is No Mystery

by Alan Reynolds

T
hroughout the twentieth century, many countries have recovered sud-
denly from rapid inflation and economic stagnation, and have then
begun to enjoy years of noninflationary prosperity. The results have
often been called “economic miracles”-the Poincare miracle in France, the
Erhard miracle in postwar Germany, the Mau~tius miracle, the Bolivian miracle,
and so on. But economic miracles are no mystery. They all had two or three
features in common.

In 1923, overnight interest rates in Germany averaged 10,950 percent.

On November 15, 1923, Germany fured the exchange rate of the new mark at
the prewar parity of 4.2 per dollar. The newly independent central bank stopped
discounting treasury bills and instead discounted only sound commercia1 paper
(or “real bills”). Interest rates fell as low as 13 percent in late 1924.
Tax receipts increased dramatically, but that was the result of monetary
stability, not the cause. Monetary reform fared the government fiscal crisis, not
the other way around. Tax policy did contribute to Germany’s hyperinflation,
but that was because tax rates were too high, not because they were too low.
In 1920, Germany had adopted a graduated income tax with tax rates as high
as 40 percent. During a rapid inflation, a graduated income tax is much worse
than taxing a percentage of sales, because it is impossible to collect an income
tax fast enough to prevent revenues from shrinking in real terms.
Measured in gold marks, total German tax receipts collapsed from 5.2
billion in fiscal 1921-22 to an annual rate of only 758 million by November
1923. After the exchange rate was fKed in November 1923, tax revenues
immediately rebounded to an annual rate of over 6 billion by January 1924.
Two years after the currency reform, revenues were 40 percent higher (measured
in gold) than the Dawes committee had anticipated in its plan for reorganizing

Alan Reynolds is a senior fellow and director of economic research at the Hudson Institute. He consults
with U.S. institutional investors through his own firm and through H.C. Wainwright & Co. Economics. Ltd..
in Boston, where he is a senior vice president.

Spring 1996 I 199

REYNOLDS

German finances after World War I. That unexpected windfall allowed tax rates
to be reduced in 1926, which helped bring about a brisk recovery. “By the
middle of 1926 the economy began to show signs of marvelous recuperative
powers, ” notes Amos Simpson. “The internal tax burden had been decremed
and was in the process of being more completely reformed.“’

The Poincati Miracle

The next economic miracle occurred in France, where wholesale price

inflation peaked in 1926 at about 100 percent. The new Poincare government
fast instihjted a rule prohibiting the central bank from issuing any new currency
without new reserves of gold or goId-con~re~ible foreign currencies, That turned
out to be too deflationary, resulting in falling prices and a brief recession. The
franc was then pegged to the gold dollar and pound, and later made directly
convertible into gold. Inflation stopped and the economy prospered.
Poincare cut the highest income-tax rate from 60 percent to 30 percent,
with the explicit aim of encouraging en~epreneursbip and repa~a~g flight
capital. In doing so: wrote Charles Kindleberger, “Poincare reversed the [Com-
mittee of Experts’] recommendation on taxes. . . . The purpose was to appeal
to the capitalist class in France, to persuade it to repatriate its money.“’

After World War II, the frst economic miracle was brought about by
Ludwig Erhard’s refomls in West Gennany, which began in 1948. Tariffs were
greatly reduced, price controls were abolished, and the exchange rate of the
new deu~chemark was fixed to the dollar, which in turn was tied to gold.
Income-tax rates were slashed from 95 percent on incomes above $15,000 at
the time of the Allied occupation to a maximum of 53 percent on incomes of
$250,000 by th e early 1950s. Inflation stopped immediately, shortages vanished,
trade flourished, and, for more than a decade, the West German economy grew
much faster than that of the United States.

Japan
The other early postwar miracle was Japan in the 1960s and 1370s.
Japan ran large trade deficits with the United States from 1945 through 1965,
largely as a result of importing machinery and materials. That caused considerable
anxiety among US. economists. A 1958 Rockefeller Foundation study, Japan3

1 Amos E. Simpson, Hjalmar Schacht in Ptxpectiw (The Hague: Mouton and Co., 1969), p. 24.
L CRarlcs P. Kidlekger, A FinancialHiitffl?ioSWes~Eu~~ (Loncbn: George Allen and Unwin, 198-if.
p. 357.

200 I Orbis
 National Prosperity

Postwar Economy, made the following plea for an austerity program in Japan,
in order to restrict imports:

The growth of prosperity in Japan seems inevitably to set in motion forces which tend
to widen the trade gap. . If, however, the import component of Japan’s gross national
product can be reduced then a smaller volume of both imports and exports will
be sufficient. It is also possible to put aside the goal of full employment and to
economize in some sectors of imp0rts.j

From 1960 to 1965, Japan ignored such protectionist advice, eliminated

import quotas (except on agriculture and chemicals), lifted most restrictions on
foreign investment, and began to make deep cuts in tariffs. This frst wave of
liberalization (which was unprecedented at the time for such a poor country)
resulted in Japan’s membership in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATI9, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Alfred Ho notes that “in
years when large [current-account] deficits occurred, for instance, 1961, 1964
and 1967, a tight monetary policy was resorted to by the Bank of Japan.“* With
the yen fmed at 360 to the dollar, Japan was blessed with a currency that was
literally “as sound as a dollar.”
The U.S. occupation had imposed confiscatory tax rates of 85 percent
in Japan, and these remained in effect until September 1951, when Japan began
to set its own policies. From 1951 through 1978, Japan either cut tax rates or
increased deductions every year, despite the objections of the Rockefeller study
and other Western advisors. Income-tax rates were reduced again in 1985 and
1987. But Japan later imposed a new tax on securities transactions, as well as
a small value-added tax (VAT), with apparently unfavorable results.

The Asian NICs

The expression “export-led growth”-often used to describe Japan and

Asia’s newly industrialized countries @X$-is quite misleading. In reality, Asian
export-promotion schemes were scaled back sharply after the mid-197Os, when
most “Asian tigers” began a growth led by imports. From 1976 to 1985, for
example, current-account deficits averaged 3.3 percent of GDP in South Korea,
5.3 percent in Thailand, and 6.6 percent in Singapore. Malaysia, Thailand, and
South Korea have continued to run sizable current-account deficits in the 1990s.
Hong Kong ran trade deficits in all but four years between 1975 and 1992.5

3 Jerome B. Cohen, Jqf~~n’sPa&~~Econo~y (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1958), pp. 134 and
217.
4 AJfred K. Ho, /@an’s Trade Liberalization in the l%Os (New York: International Arts and Sciences,
19731, p. 62.
5 See Asian Development Bank, Ktylndicators(Manila: Asian Development Bank, 1993); and International
Monetary Fund, Intemational Financiul StatisticsWashington, D.C.: International Monetary Fund, various
annual editions and February 1995).

Spring 1996 I 201

REYNOLDS

South Korea. South Korea had a foreign debt in excess of 50 percent

of GNP by 1980, when the current-account deficit reached 8.4 percent of GDP.
Briefly, in 1980, South Korea adopted an “austerity plan” with a 17 percent
devaluation and higher tax rates. As a result, inflation jumped to 35 percent,
and real GDP fell by 5 percent (which did, of course, cut imports). A 1987 IMF
report notes: “During 1981-82, structural policies were aimed at increasing the
productivity and efficiency of the economy. These policies encompassed .
a comprehensive tax reform, and trade liberalization.“” ‘Ihe highest income-tax
rates were immediately reduced by 20 percentage points in 1981 and by another
20 points in later years, with the result that tax revenue rose considerably.
“Average tariff rates were also lowered from 35 percent in 1980 to 23.7 percent
in 1983 and to 12.7 percent by 1988.“’ Lower tax rates and tariffs greatly
invigorated the real economy by reducing costs and improving incentives.
“Between 1983 and 1988, the rate of growth of real GNP averaged 10.2
percent, whereas domestic inflation averaged 3.8 percent.“* South Korea’s
prolonged current-account deficits briefly turned to surpluses in 1986-89, as
savings grew faster than investment, but South Korea experienced additional
current-account deficits in 1990-94. However, the foreign debt accumulated
after more than three decades of almost continuous current-account deficits is
now easily financed as a result of a much larger economy. From 1981 to 1992,
economic growth averaged 8.9 percent a year.
Hong Kong. Other newly industrialized Asian countries either always
had low tax rates and tariffs or embraced such policies during the 1980s. Hong
Kong has maintained a fKed exchange with the dollar since 1983, has no trade
barriers, and imposes a maximum income tax of 15 percent, with no VAT or
payroll tax. From 1983 to 1992, tax revenues increased by 409 percent in Hong
Kong dollars, which are equivalent to U.S. dollars. Indeed, the Hong Kong
economy has been so miraculous that many have come to take it for granted.
The economy doubled in size from 1979 to 1992, with average growth of 7.1
percent a year. Since 1987, unemployment has been below 2 percent.”
7be PRC’. China began its remarkable renaissance by granting farmers
secure property rights (long-term transferable leases) and by allowing them to
sell all produce above a f=ed quota on the open market. This was essentially
a zero marginal tax rate-anything produced above quota was tax free. China,
like Hong Kong, has no VAT and no social-security taxes (although there are
some turnover taxes. usually about 3 percent). The income-tax rate on foreigners
working in China is half the nomlal rate, a maximum of 22.5 percent. The tax
on foreign corporations and joint venhlres is 30 percent. Many economic zones

h Bijan Aghevli and Jorge Marquez-Ruatte, “A Case of SuccessId Adjustment in :I Developing Count:
Kora‘s ExperienceDuring 1980-84,” in Econonzic Adju.Vnzwzr; Policies and Pmbhn.~, ed. Sir John Holmes
(Washington, D.C.: International Monetary Fund, 1987), p, 101.
_ Javad Khalilzadeh-Shirzai and Anwar Shah, eels., T&x Policy rn Lkcdoping Countries (Washington, D.C.
World Bank, 1991). p, 230.
x Ihid.

202 I Orbis
 National Prosperity

were established from 1980 to 1989, with special tax breaks and tariff exemptions
that have attracted huge investments from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and elsewhere.
Outside the free-trade zones, tariffs have also been sharply reduced to conform
with GAIT rules. Half of China’s industrial output is private, and over 90 percent
of prices are free of controls.
Singapore. In 1985, Singapore found itself in recession and responded
by reducing the top income tax from 45 percent to 30 percent. Singapore also
reduced the percentage of payrolls required to be devoted to mandatory savings
plans. Economic growth from 1987 to 1994 averaged 8.5 percent a year, with
recent inflation of only 2 to 4 percent.
As each new Asian country emulated the successful policies of its
neighbors, economic miracles proliferated. Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand,
like Singapore, have all reduced their highest tax rates to 30-35 percent during
the past ten years and have lowered tariffs. A similar process is starting to
spread throughout Latin America, as the following five case studies suggest.

Bolivia

In mid-1985, Bolivia’s inflation rate reached 23,000 percent. Real GDP

fell dramatically every year from 1978 through 1986. In 1987, however, annual
inflation suddenly dropped to 14.5 percent. As Jeffrey Sachs observed:

The exchange rate stabilized almost immediately, and with a stable exchange rate, the
price level stopped rising. . . The remarkable break in the hyperinflation began no
more than one week after the inception of the program! Inflation fell from a rate of
more than 50 percent per month to price stability almost immediately. . The
stabilization program eschewed all wage and price controls.”

The Bolivian economy began to grow for the first time in a decade,
with real GNP increasing by 3.4 percent annually over the seven years from
1987 to 1993.l’
This modem “miracle,” like many others, began with a remarkable
reduction of tax rates. The highest income-tax rate in Bolivia was slashed from
45 percent to a flat rate of 10 percent. A 30 percent corporate tax was replaced
with a 2 percent tax on net worth. Average tariffs were cut from 80 percent to
20 percent. Over four hundred sales taxes were combined into a 10 percent
value-added tax.
One rarity of the Bolivian miracle was that payments of the VAT could
be entirely offset against the income tax. As a result, Bolivians began demanding

10Jeffrey Sachs, “Managingthe LDCDebt Crisis,”BmokingsPapsonEconomicActivity, no. 2 (Washington,

D.C.: Brookings Institution,19861, p. 75.
I1 GDP growth figures from the late 1980s to early 199Os, for this country and others, are from International
Monetary Fund, WoddEcommic Outlook, Oct. 1993, Table A-6; Inter-American Development Bank, Economic
and Social Progress in Latin America (Baltimore,Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994); World Bank,
World Tables (Washington, DC.: World Bank, 1994); and Asian Development Bank, Key Indicators.

Spring 1996 I 203

REYNOLDS

receipts in order to claim the tax credit for VAT payments, and suddenly the
underwound economy became visible-and taxable. Tax receipts soared from
3.5 percent of GDP in 1984 to 14.7 percent in 1986.
In Bolivia, then, tax reform came first and exchange-rate stabilization
second. Although the increased tax receipts resulting from lower tax rates were
critical in minimizing the need to print money to cover budget deficits, the later
content to avoid significant currency devaluations was essential to creating
credibility for the new currency.
The key change in Bolivian monetary policy, explains Juan-Antonio
Morales, has been that “stabilization has focused explicitly on the exchange
rate.“” The central bank restrains the supply of domestic credit whenever it is
running short of foreign-exchange reserves. In 1993, consumer price inflation
was 8.5 percent.

Colombia

Economists often observe an increase in tax receipts and assume that

it has occurred because of higher, not lower, tax rates. Thus, Michael Urrutia
of the Inter-American Development Bank wrote that “Colombia was the only
country in Latin America that adjusted successfully after 1982. It did it . . not
only by decreasing expenditures, but ako by increadng taxation.“‘3 In fact, tax
rates in Colombia were greatly reduced-from 56 percent to 49 percent in 1984,
and then to 30 percent in 1986. The corporate tax was also cut from 40 percent
to 30 percent in 1986. The VAT was later reduced from 15-25 percent to 14
percent (except on cars). Revenues rose from 7.8 percent of GDP in 1983
(before tax rates were reduced) to more than 10 percent from 1986 through
1990, and 12-13 percent since then.
What is far more important than the share of GDP, however, is that
real tax receipts have increased year after year because of prolonged growth
in real GDP4.2 percent per year from 1986 to 1993. Inflation has been kept
around 30 percent through a crawling peg.

Chile

“In 1973,” notes Sebastian Edwards of the World Bank, “Chile faced
initial conditions as close as they can possibly be to those of Eastern Europe.
Chile had severe repressed inflation I1000 percent1 . . . an incredibly large fiscal
deficit 127 percent of GDP], and a very large public sector in which all sorts of

‘2 Juan-Antonio Morales. “Inflation Stabilization in Bolivia,” in Inflation Stabilizution, ed. Michael Rruno
et al. (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 19881, p, 321. Curiously, some otherwise perceptive observers have
wrongly labeled Bolivia’s quasi-fLued exchange rate as “floating.” See, for example, William N. Raiford, “Bolivia’s
hlonetary Reform Leads to Supply-Side Revolution,” Wall SMet,~ournaE,July 24, 1987.
13 Michael Vmttia quoted in Sachs, ~~~~ana~g the LDC Debt Crisis,” p, 216. Emphasis added.
 National Prosperity

public and government owned enterprises were operating at a very inefficient

level.“14 Average tariffs were 94 percent. What happened next was that “Chile
implemented policies of stabilization, liberalization and privatization at the same
time.” Many policies were tried and discarded, however, including floating
exchange rates.
The Chilean peso was allowed to go into free fall in June 1982-an
experiment that resulted in a 15 percent drop in real GDP and a doubling of
unemployment to 20 percent. The budgetary crunch following the devaluation
provoked the unfortunate expedient of increasing tariffs from 10 percent to 35
percent. Just after this experiment with letting the currency “float,” and with
higher tax rates and tariffs, Chile had the highest per capita foreign debt in
Latin America.
Starting in 1984, tariffs were reduced once again, to 10-20 percent.” In
1985, income-tax rates were reduced at most income levels, and from 65 percent
to 50 percent at the top. Gerard0 Sicat and Arvind Virmani of the World Bank
calculated that by the mid-1980s marginal tax rates on those earning twice the
average family income were only 13 percent in Chile-even lower than the 17
percent tax rate in Hong Kong.16 Chile’s income-tax rates still rise as high as
45 percent (down from 75 percent in 1979), but saving is favored because only
“real” (above inflation) interest income is taxed. The corporate tax rate was also
deeply cut in 1985, from 47.5 percent to 32.5 percent, and later to 15 percent.
The VAT was reduced from 30 percent to 20 percent, and later to 18 percent.
Tax revenues rose from 7.8 percent of GDP to 10.6 percent just after the tax
reform.
In Chile, there have been virtually no limits on the privatization of state
enterprises, which has mostly occurred through shares sold to Chilean pension
funds, workers, and investors, Even schools were partly privatized, with the
government reimbursing private schools for what the cost would otherwise be
of educating a child in public schools. Chile also privatized the social-security
system in May 1981, replacing it with a system in which workers must pay 10
percent of their salaries into a tax-free, private mutual fund. The private pension
fund has resulted in a very high rate of savings and helped to develop capital
markets, while greatly reducing a previously onerous social-security tax on work
in the formal economy. (That payroll tax had absorbed more than 51 percent
of wages in 1975.)
The Chilean economy grew at an impressive annual rate of 5.3 percent
from 1986 through 1992-11~ from 1.8 percent in 1975-1984. Real fared investment

14 Arnold Harberger et al., “Central and Eastern Europe in Transition,” Contemporuly Economic Problems,
Jan. 1992, p. 5.
15 Jeffrey A. Frankel, Kenneth A. Froot, and tiejan& Mizala Sakes, “Credibility, the Optimal Speed of
Trade Liberalization, Real Interest Rates, and the Latin American Debt,” working paper no. 94720, University
of California, Berkeley, Calif., Aug. 19, 1987, p. 13.
16 Gerard0 Sicat and Arvind Viiani, “Personal Income Taxes in Developing Countries,” 7be WorM Bunk
Economic Reuiew,Jan. 1988, Table 1. See also Bruce Bartlett, “The State and Market in Sub-Sahamn Africa,”
7be World Economy, Sept. 1989, p. 307.

Spring 1996 I 205

REYNOLDS

increased by 24 percent in 1992 alone, and by another 16 percent in 1993.

Such expanding investment opportunities help explain why Chile has run a
current-account deficit in nine out of the past ten years, despite a high savings
rate. That is nothing new. From 1976 to 1985, Chile’s annual current-account
deficit averaged 7 percent of GDP, even higher than Singapore’s,
Inflation-which hit 350 percent in the mid-1970s and averaged 64
percent from I975 to 1984--was held to about 9 percent in 1994 through a
system that ties the Chilean peso to a basket of currencies.

Peru

In Peru, real GDP fell by more than 25 percent from 1988 to 1990, and
inflation reached 7,483 percent in the latter year. Government revenues dropped
from 14.1 percent of GDP in 1985 to 6.5 percent in 1989. The falling economy
and collapsing real tax revenues were both a cause and effect of Peru’s
hyperinflation.
In 1992, the highest income-tax rates in Peru were cut from 50 percent
to 30 percent, with an extremely generous personal exemption. VAT rates of
up to 55 percent were brought down to a unified rate of 18 percent, and excise
taxes were eliminated in 1993. Tariffs have been repeatedly reduced, to 15
percent by June 1993 for almost all goods and to 25 percent on a few others.
Revenues increased from 6.5 percent of GDP in 1989 to 10.2 percent in 1992-93.
In addition, there has been substantial privatization, notably in petroleum and
mining.
Since 1992, foreign exchange has been “largely the only source of
monetary base growth,” bringing inflation below 40 percent by the end of
1993.” From the end of 1993 to the end of 1994, the exchange rate was virtually
fured, falling from 2.16 soles per dollar to 2.18, while inflation fell further. Real
economic growth in Peru was 7 percent in 1993 and even greater in 1994.

Argentina

No country has experimented with more “adjustment programs” than

Argentina. In 1990, following the failed “austral” scheme, inflation was above
2000 percent, and real GDP fell once again, after falling by 1.9 percent in 1988
and 6.2 percent in 1989.
In 1991-92, the new president, Carlos Menem, surprised everyone by
adopting policies similar to those of, say, Singapore. Argentina reduced the
highest income tax to 30 percent. Export taxes were eliminated. Tariffs were
eliminated on capital goods and reduced to no more than 20 percent on almost
everything else. Following these changes, government revenues rose from 13.1

17 Inter-American Development Bank, Economic and Social Progress m Latin America, p. 146.

206 I Orbis
 National Prosperity

percent of GDP in 1988 to 17.7 percent of GDP in 1992-93. And that understates
the revenue gain, because real GDP rose by 25 percent in three years. Between
the first quarters of 1991 and 1994, government revenues in Argentina more
than doubled, rising from 2 billion to 4.2 billion new pesos (equivalent to U.S.
dollars).
The telephone company and many other enterprises were wholly or
partly privatized, including (as in Mexico) cons~~on of private toll roads. The
government is now moving toward privatizing social-security pensions, as in
Chile, which could reduce the still onerous payroll tax.
The most astonishing change in Argentina involved the adoption of a
currency board. Instead of merely slowing the rate of devaluation, as Mexico
and others have done, Argentina pegged the new peso at one to the dollar in
April 1991 and required that any new issue of currency be 100 percent backed
by foreign exchange or gold, and convertible into dollars on demand. Inflation,
which had been 3,079 percent in 1989 and 2,314 percent in 1990, promptly
dropped below 25 percent in 1992 and to 4 percent by 1994.
Real GDP growth was nearly 9 percent in both 1991 and 1992, and 6
percent in 1993, making the economy 25 percent larger than it had been in
1990, Real investment increased by 23 percent per year from 1990 to 1993,
measured in 1988 U.S. dollars.‘”
Any economy that is growing by 6 to 9 percent a year needs to sell at
home some of the industrial goods it might otherwise export, and needs to
import materials and machinery. ~gen~a’s imports rose from $3.7 billion in
1990 to $15.4 billion in 1993. Investment opportunities in such vibrant economies
usually outrun domestic savings, requiring a net inflow of foreign investment.
The ratio of investment to GDP rose from 14 percent in 1990 to 21 percent in
1993. Argentina soon began repatriating some of the huge Argentine investments
that had flowed abroad to avoid taxes and inflation (about $60 billion), and
the country attracted considerable foreign diiect and equity investment as well.
The result was a large net inflow of private capital-$9.6 billion in 1992 and
over $14 billion in 1993. Fears that the Mexico crisis would spread to Argentina
eventually dried up the capital inflow, but the government has held fm against
devaluation, despite the risk of some bank failures. Better to suffer a recession
than an rational recession.

Two African Miracles

Another economic renaissance has taken place on the island country

of Mauritius, which has become known as the “Hong Kong of Africa.” Mauritius
suffered a major devaluation back in 1980, accompanied by a 10 percent drop
in real GDP, price controls, and 30 percent inflation, By 1982, Mauritius had

I8 Ibid., p. 241

Spring 1996 I 207

REYNOLDS

an unemployment rate of 22 percent, and one fifth of its people were attempting
to emigrate.
After 1983, however, the economy began to take off. Real GDP growth
leaped to 9.3 percent per year from I986 to 1988, and has been above 5 percent
ever since. Inflation averaged 4.4 percent from 1933to 1987-after price controls
were removed. The budget deficit was cut from 14 percent of GDP in 1982 to
1 percent by 1988.
What caused this switch from despair to ambition? At a 1992 World
Bank conference, the “new growth” theorist Paul Romer emphasized that
“income and corporate tax rates were halved in 1983 (from about 70 to about
35 percent).” Romer also observed that free-trade zones were set up, which
allowed “unrestricted, tariff-free imports of machinery and materials, no restriction
on ownership or repatriation of profits, [and] a ten-year income tax holiday for
foreign investors.“‘” Income-tax rates in Mauritius have since been reduced
again, to 30 percent.
The other African economic miracle is Botswana, whose economic
growth has long been the fastest in the world, averaging 13 percent per year
since achieving independence in 1967(although starting from a very low income
level, of course). Botswana’s progress has not been confined to diamond mining
but has been broadly based in agriculture and manufacturing.
The government of Botswana has repeatedly reduced its highest in-
come-tax rates-from 60 percent in I979 to 35 percent in recent years-with
the higher tax rates applying only at an increasingly high real income. The
currency is linked to a basket of currencies, and inflation is about 11 percent.
Trade is open, and Botswana is a secure, multi-racial democracy.

The Case of Israel

Before July 1985, Israel was suffering one of many unsuccessful experi-
ments with currency devaluation and price controls (like Mauritius in 1980-82,
or the United States in 1973). Israel adopted wage and price controls from
November 1984 through April 1985. Controls made inflation worse by stimulating
demand, discouraging supply, and thus creating shortages. By early 1985, the
inflation rate was approaching 1000 percent.
Inflation, in turn, reduced real tax receipts, Wage controls also cut
government revenues because they resulted in the substitution of benefits for
taxable cash and greater underreporting of income. “Tax receipts fell sharply
in 1984 [by more than 11 percent of GDP1 as inflation eroded the value of tax
payments . but recovered with the 1985 stabilization plan.“”

1’) Paul I). Ibmer, “Two Stmtegies for Economic Development: Using l&as and Producing Ideas,” in
Pnx~~dzngs of‘ i’he W&d Bank Annual Co?zfe?wceon L)rwlo]~ment Ecovzom~c.s. 1992 (Washington, 11.C.:
World 13ank, 19921, p. 77.
L(1Alvin Babushka and Steven flanke, Toward Growth, ARltlepn’ntfor~cononllcKehirth inIsrd(Jenwlem:
JetuSalem lnstihlte for Aclvancecl PditicaI and Economic Studies. 1988). p. 24.

208 I Orbis
 National Prosperity

Yakir Plessner, former deputy governor of the Bank of Israel, says that
before the 1985 reform “the exchange rate was . . . used for balance of payments
corrections, with complete disregard of the monetary effects.“‘l Alter the reform,
Stanley Fischer confii, “the Bank of Israel would conduct monetary policy
with the exchange rate as its main nominal target.“22 A study of Israel and
Argentina by Peter Montiel of the IMF came to the following conclusion:

The case of Israel also does not provide support for the fiscal view [that inflation is
caused by budget deficits]. The recent inflationaly episodes seem to have been
much more closely associated with nominal exchange rate movements than with base
money growth. The pursuit of external adjustment through nominal exchange rate
devaluation may be associated with a substantial, sustained, and extremely stubborn
increase in the rate of inflation.23

Like nearly all other successful stabilizations-those in which the real

economy expands as inflation declines-Israel’s reform also included a reduction
in tax rates, In 1986-87, marginal tax rates on individuals were reduced from
60 percent to 48 percent. The VAT was cut from 17 percent to 15 percent, an
import deposit fee was reduced by 15 percent, and an employment tax in
commerce and services was also cut from 7 percent to 4 percent. Effective tax
rates on business income fell by six percentage points. Projections had been
that tax revenue would not change much. In the event, however, all categories
of tax revenue increased, and especially income-tax revenue. “The rising
revenues,” an IMF survey explained, “stemmed mainly from the positive effect
of declining inflation and buoyant wages, consumption and imports.“** Economic
growth averaged 6.2 percent from 1990 to 1992, and inflation was down to
about 11 percent by 1993, belying once again the notion that lower inflation
requires “austerity,” or that rapid real growth raises inflation.

Backsliding

Miracle cures are not permanent. Lie some people, some countries
have discovered the path to health and prosperity only to wander off it.
7he Philippines. An example of how changes in the policy mix can turn
things around quickly-for better and for worse-is offered by the Philippines.
In 1983, the peso was “floated,” and its value was quickly cut in half. Inflation
jumped from 10 percent to 50 percent. Because the tax system was not indexed,
taxpayers suddenly found that higher tax brackets now applied at half as much
real income as previously. Business tax rates were increased by more than 30

21 Ibid., p. 75.
22 Stanley Fischer, “The Israeli Stabiiization Program,”TheAmerican Economic Reuiw May 1987, p. 277.
23 Peter J. Montiei, “Empirical Analysis of High-Itiation Episodes in Argentina, Brazil and Israel,” LW
StaffPapers (Washington, DC.: International Monetary Fund, Sept. 19891, pp. 547-48.
24 “Israel Curbs Inflation, Improves Budget Balance,” LkWSunrey, Sept. 14, 1987.

Spring 1996 I 209

REYNOLDS

percent in 1984, with a new top rate of 60 percent on any earnings above
$23,000.
Real GNP fell by 7.3 percent a year in both 1984 and 1985, followed
by revolution. Shortly thereafter, the new Aquino government stabilized the
peso and reduced tariffs and tax rates. “In June 1986, a bold new program of
tax reform was adopted . . . including a sharply reduced tax rate at the highest
income ranges . . land1 reform of import tariff~.“~~ The highest income-tax rate
was slashed from 60 percent to 35 percent. Economic growth quickly rebounded
to 4.8 percent in 1987, 6.3 percent in 1988, and 6.1 percent in 1989. Real tax
receipts rose more than 50 percent in four years.
The Philippine government again resorted to a sizable devaluation of
the peso in 1990, which was followed by an inflation of 21 percent in 1991.”
Interest rates on treasury bills rose from 11.5 percent in 1987 to 23.7 percent
in 1990, contributing to a near doubling of the budget deficit in 1990. A new
10 percent VAT was introduced, and “the government imposed a 9 percent
import levy.“27 Real GDP growth suddenly slowed to 2.4 percent in 1990, less
than zero in 1991-92, and only 2.1 percent in 1993.
Jamaica. In Jamaica, real output and income began falling in 1974 and
continued to drop almost every year through 1986, for a total decline of 23
percent. From 1978 to 1986, the currency was repeatedly and deeply devalued.
Tax brackets were not adjusted for inflation, so the top tax rate of 57.5 percent
eventually fell on incomes as low as $700 a year. More than a third of Jamaica’s
professionals and managers left the country.
In 1986, Prime Minister Edward Seaga cut the highest tax rate to 33
percent and reduced tariffs. Revenues rose from 26.8 percent of GDP in 1985
to 31.9 percent in 1986. Real GDP growth averaged 5.7 percent a year from
1987 through 1990. Inflation dropped from 27 percent in 1984-85 to 6.6 percent
in 1987.
However, the currency was again devalued by 69 percent in 1991,
pushing interest rates on treasury bills to 49 percent by mid-1994 (up from
18-19 percent in 198789). A 10 percent VAT became fully effective in 1992
and was increased and broadened in 1993. Although there was additional
revenue in 1993, this was due mainly to a reduction in tariffs. Meanwhile, GDP
slowed to little more than 1 percent in 1992-93, as the currency fell and tax
rates rose, with inflation reaching 77 percent in 1992. Jamaica then cut the flat
tax to 25 percent, and growth resumed.
Mexico. But the question that interests U.S. citizens most is, undoubtedly,
what happened to Mexico?

25Emine Gurgen, “Philippine Program of Economic Reform Entails Policy Shifts to Revive Growth,” LGfT
Survey, Nov. 17. 1986.
26 International Monetary Fund, InCenurti~ Financial Statistlcc,Nov. 1993, p. 59.
27 World Rank, Trends in LIedoping Economies (Washington, DC: World Rank, 19921, p. 448.
 National Prosperity

Sri&y, Mexico abandoned a fairly successful currency stabifization in

December 1994, which makes the country a fascinating example of what goes
right when a currency is strong, and what goes wrong when it is not.
In 1989, the Mexican peso was put on a crawling peg, initially allowed
to depreciate by only one peso per day, later a haIf peso, then 20 centavos,
and so on. Mexico’s maximum income-tax rate was reduced from 55 percent
to 40 percent, then to 35 percent. Revenues rose from 16 percent of GDP in
1986 to 20.5 percent in 1990, with the share of those revenues coming from
direct (income) taxes rising from 23.8 percent in 1987 to 29.4 percent in 1989
and 35 percent by 1993.B Tariffs that had commonly been 50-100 percent were
reduced to no more than 20 percent (and an average of 10 percent).
Inflation fell from 132 percent in 1987 to 20 percent in 1989, and to 7
percent by 1994. Growth of real GDP rebounded to 3.5 percent a year from
1989 to 1992 but then slowed to less than 1 percent in 1993. Before 1994, there
was a massive infusion of foreign investment, mostly owing to repatriation of
Mexican capital and to foreign portfolio investment in Mexican stocks and
treasury bills. The budget swung into surplus from 1990 to 1994, even aside
from privatization revenues, largely for reasons that are not widely understood.
As inflation fell, short-term interest rates also fell from 103 percent in
1987 to 16 percent by 1992. The Mexican government’s cost of debt service
thus fell from 19.8 percent of GDP to 3.9 percent in those five years-lower
interest rates reduced government spending by nearly 17 percent of GDP.29
Interest expense fell from more than 57 percent of gove~ent outlays in 1988
to only 15 percent in 1993, mostly as a result of lower interest rates on domestic
debt, This is a powerful example of just one way in which good monetary
policy can produce good budgetary results, rather than the other way around.
Unfortunately, in 1994, facing a massive hemorrhage of foreign exchange,
the Banco de Mexico did not act in the way a currency board would have
been compelled to act. The loss of reserves was instead “sterikzed” by adding
pesos through open market operations, even as pesos were being purchased
with dollar reserves in the foreign-exchange market. The peso devaluation
immediately pushed inflation up to at least 40 percent; short-term interest rates
jumped from 14 percent to 100 percent; and the recession shrank revenues,
thus creating a budget crisis. The VAT was raised from 10 percent to 15 percent,
and some tariffs were increased. By inflating the price of imports, the falling
peso eroded the real incomes and wealth of Mexican families and fms, forcing
a sharp contraction of imported components, machinery, and materials that are

28 Inter-American Development Bank, Economic andSo&i Prugm in L&in Atnmic~ Table C-l, p. 252.
The “top” tax rates serve here as a rough proxy for me tax schedule. This is not always accurate, because
some countries follow the Japanese practice of appearing to have high tax rates at high incomes but offering
numerous “loopholes” that reduce taxable income. The income thresholds at which high tax rates apply are
obviously important, as are sales and social-security taxes. For countries that have reduced the top tax rate
to IO-35 percent, though, it is almost certain that marginal tax rates at lower incomes ate modest too.
za Ekutco de Mexico, Annd Repoti (Mexico City: Bunco de Mexico, 1!493).

Spring 1996 I 211

REYNOLDS

essential to production. Just as currency stabilization often creates miracles,

des~b~ization creates crises.

Conclusion

As suggested by this sample of economic miracles (and lapsed miracles),

all successful economic turnarounds in this century have had at least two of
the following three features in common: (1) tariffs and other trade barriers were
reduced; (2) exchange rates were tied to a stronger currency or to gold; and
(3) high marginal tax rates on capital and human capital were sharply reduced.
Economic miracles illustrate, in a particularly dramatic way, some of
the basic building blocks of prosperity that are common to all successful
economies:
First, secure property rights must exist. Every asset must have an owner,
or group of owners, who can transfer title to others as they see fit. This includes
privatization, but also a predictable “rule of law,” and a legal system to enforce
contrac= and settle civil disputes.
Secondly, there must be sound, honest money-money whose value
is reasonably predictable over fairly long periods of time, and which is therefore
accepted in both international and domestic commerce. The October 1993 LA@
Outloob notes that rapid inflation in the former Soviet Union is no different
from many other cases, “with inflation being fueled by devaluations intended
to improve competitiveness. . . . Typically, ending hype~~ation has involved
. . . establishing currency convertibility, often at a fxed exchange rate.““’
‘Thirdly, wages, prices, and interest rates must be completely free of
government control, so that the price system can give the correct signals to
producers and consumers.
Fou~~y, there must be vigorous ~ompe~tion, so that producers are
under constant pressure to improve quality, create new products and services,
and minimize costs. This requires very low trade barriers, because foreign
producti define world-class competition and force domestic producers to be
efficient. As a corollary, competition also requires effective bankruptcy laws-
enterprises must be allowed to fail.31Lower tariffs also reduce the cost of living
and the cost of production.
Lastly, there must be a tax system that yields sufficient revenue to sustain
essential government functions and does so without creating capital flight and
a brain drain, or undermining incentives for productive work, saving, and
entrepreneurship.
Many ~‘~ansition”plans lose sight of such basic principles or focus on
only one at a time. Yet it is necessary to get at least the direction right in every

Monetary Fund, IMF Outlook, Oct. 1993,pp. 93-95.

3 International
3’ Maxim Boycko, Andrei Shleifer, and Robert W. Vishny, “Pn’vatizing Russia,” Bmoktngs Papers on
Economic Act&i&, no. 2 CJuashington, D.C.: Bakings Institution, 1993).

212 I Orbis
 National Prosperity

area, particularly in the intricately intertwined issues of money and taxes. Without
a workable tax system, it becomes quite difficult to finance government budget
deficits in a noninflationary way. And without stable money, it becomes difficult,
if not impossible, to avoid large budget deficits.
It is not widely appreciated that monetary reform is usually essential to
fscal success. Runaway inflation invariably erodes real tax collections and inflates
the government’s interest expense. One of the most startling lessons of economic
miracles--from Germany in 1924 to Mexico in 199~is that budget deficits
often cease to be a problem after monetary reform brings inflation and interest
rates down.
Estonia, with its 26 percent flat tax and gold-backed currency overseen
by a currency board, seems to be well aware of these two key components of
economic success-trustworthy money and a tax system that encourages people
to increase their incomes by increasing their output. In the long run, growth
of real tax receipts depends on growth of the economy. Trying to tax an ever
increasing share of a stagnant or contracting economy always fails3*
Whenever combined marginal income, payroll, and sales-tax rates have
been reduced to internationally competitive levels, this has resulted in (1) a
substantially increased net capital inflow and therefore a stronger currency and
lower interest rates; (2) a reduced brain drain and increased personal investment
in education; and (3) reduced tax evasion, more rapid economic growth, and
therefore increased real tax collections from all sources.
The most successful “economic miracles” of the century shunned wage
and price controls, guaranteed to convert the currency to a more credible
currency or commodity, and reduced marginal tax rates and tariffs. A similar
set of policies could help those countries now struggling to make the transition
from planned to market economies. And Washington would do well
to focus its efforts on encouraging those countries to institute such
policies.

32 Two useful sources on tax policy are Amaresh Bachi and Nicholas Stem, Tar Policy in Lkmloping
Countries (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993); and Javad Khakadeh-Shirzai and Anwar Shah, Tm
Policy in LIedoping Countries

Spring 1996 I 213